Week 3F
OPHIEL
B minor Mass
A demanding piece of choral music of timeless beauty
July 26th – July 31st 2010
The Zenith meditation camp holds a long tradition with the B-minor Mass by J.S. Bach, which meant a lot to its founder, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. He interpreted this music as a celebration with cosmic dimensions. Until its complete performance in 1995, parts of this mass had been sung in the camp for many years. Performances in Disentis, Dachau, Ottobeuren and Paris followed.
Maarten Ophiel van Leer is planning a revival of this project under his direction and is preparing a performance with an international project -choir and –orchestra in Frankfurt (Germany) on Sept. 12th, 2010, in the form of a peace-celebration.
During this week at the camp we would like to deepen our previous experience with Bach’s music and make the musical and spiritual content accessible to new singers. At the end of the week an informal performance will occur in a church in the Blenio-valley.
Maarten Ophiel van Leer studied choral conducting in Utrecht and looks back on a 30-year experience as a conductor. Right from the beginning he has been involved in the realization of the B-minor mass performances.
Are you an experienced singer and capable of preparing your (choir) part individually? Then do ask for the extra documentation on the project, or look on www.zenithinstitute.org. A practice-CD can be ordered.
Ophiel Maarten van Leer
Ophiel Ophiel Maarten van Leer has been leading musical activities in the Zenith Camp for nearly thirty years and has supported its founder, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, to study and perform the B-minor Mass of J.S. Bach with participants in the camp as well as in Germany. He has been a student of Sufism over three decades. Trained as a conductor and singer, Ophiel introduces a spiritual approach in his choir work with 'Singphony' in Frankfurt, where he lives, and in his seminars in musical creativity.